Some background on my student: she (let’s call her K.) is just a beginner, having started lessons in January of this year.  K. is seven years old, and is now nearing the end of the Primer level of the Faber Piano Adventures.

Here’s what I’ve seen in K. so far:

• The freedom to explore and be creative. She is learning by exploration. She enjoys figuring out how to play tunes by ear, without any assignment or direction from me.  She’ll say, “Look! I figured out how to play Mary Had A Little Lamb!”
• She is discovering musical concepts on her own. She has already figured out — all on her own — that when she plays tunes in certain keys, she needs to use the black keys for them to sound right.  It’s astonishing when you think about it — she has actually discovered the reason behind key signatures and how transposition works, all by herself!  I expect that when we actually start talking about these concepts together, she will find these ideas easy to absorb because she already “gets it.”
• Her ear is developing in a way that is far more efficient and practical than me drilling her with intervals (for example) over and over.  She knows what the interval of a 3rd should sound like when she sees it on the page, and her fingers then know what to do.
• We’re having fun! Improvisation is a great way to end a lesson.  She is always excited to “make Chinese music.“

To sum it up, improvising regularly with my student has helped her realize the freedom that comes with the art of music, rather than placing a limit herself to play only “what’s on the page.”  And this is causing her to understand how music works all the better.

Creativity At Work

K. surprised me last week with a little composition she wrote.  And she created her own kind of shorthand for notating her composition onto a sheet of paper.  It looked something like this:  CDECCDEEFGGEDDDDEDC.  She informed me that the long notes were notated by having two of the same letter in a row.  

Here’s her composition, entitled, “The Britain Clock Goes Crazy”:

Those of you who are familiar with the Faber method might recognize the opening two bars.  That’s right, they are exactly like the opening measures of All My Friends on page 58.  This was done completely unintentionally by K.  In fact, she recognized the “musical quotation” during the lesson when she played her piece for me: “Hey! This sounds just like the beginning of All My Friends!”

The title of the piece is a reference to Bells of Great Britain on page 59 of the Faber Primer level Lesson book.  K. loved working on this piece.  I told her that this piece was about the famous Big Ben clock tower in London, and we talked about how to make the piano sound like the clock bells ringing.  I suspect K.’s composition was inspired by this piece (as the title suggests) because she enjoyed working on that piece so much.

K.’s piece is pretty simple.  It is only six measures long.  The hands are just playing in octaves together.  However, I see a few really good things about this piece:

• It is singable. It is not disjoint or random; she was following her ear as she composed this piece.
• It has phrases. Having a set of three phrases rather than four is a bit unusual, but actually I kind of enjoy this bit of quirkiness in her composition.
• It makes use of what she knows. This tells me that she understands well the musical concepts she is being taught.  For example, I see that she is using the C major position, and the syncopation of beats 4 to 1.
• In short, it makes musical sense.

So, what was my response when K. brought in her little composition to the lesson?  I was thrilled, as any piano teacher would be!  I told her how much I enjoyed her piece, and then took out some manuscript paper and asked her to play it again.  I transcribed the piece and told her that I would input her piece on the computer and print it out just like “real sheet music” for her (I use Finale 2009 software, but there are other options, including the free MuseScore).  And so the following lesson, we surprised her mother with her freshly printed composition.

K.’s inclinations to explore and try her hand at composition I believe are a direct result from our improvisation activities.  It may not seem like much to just improvise on the black keys for two or three minutes each lesson, but I think it sends a strong, valuable message to the student: It’s okay to explore; in fact, it’s fun to explore!

Do you think K. will compose more pieces I the future?  I hope so!  I think it’s important not to provide critique or even suggestions for student compositions until they have done it a few times and until they are older and ready to hear it.  And so I was careful that my response to K. was to simply let her know that her piece was very enjoyable to listen to, and then I “rewarded” her with a printed copy of her music to hang on the refrigerator, so to speak.  =)

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>  Scales & Primary Chords Worksheet 1 (CGDF)

Ideally, this worksheet is designed for the intermediate+ student who is already familiar with the scales and primary chords for the keys of C, G, D, and F major, and perhaps could use some review in writing them out on the staff.  However, this worksheet could also be used during a group lesson while introducing these ideas for the first time.

Terms/concepts covered in the worksheet:

• An understanding of key signatures for C, G, D, and F major.
• Practice writing out scales.
• Practice writing out primary chords.

Watch for the next worksheet coming soon, covering D, A, E, and Bb major!

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• 15 minutes a day,
• 140 minutes each week, or
• 45 minutes, 5 days a week.

One of my previous teachers built her incentive program around how much practice time each student completed each week.  She would set an amount for each student (15 minutes/day for the young ones, and then gradually increasing up to 60 minutes/day for the advanced ones).  If you completed all your practice time each week, you’d receive a sticker on your chart for that week.  When you received 7 consecutive weeks of completed practice, you were allowed to chose a prize from the prize box.  She used a system similar to the following:

• Beginners: 10-20 minutes, 5 days a week (depending on their age).
• Intermediate students: 20-45 minutes, 5 days a week.
• Advanced students: 60 minutes or more a day, 5 days a week.

Personally, I use a simpler, more flexible practice requirement for my students.  I simply tell my students and parents that they are expected to practice daily.  And that’s it.  Here are my reasons why I like to leave it at that:

• Consistent practice is far better than intermittent practice. I realize that life gets crazy busy sometimes, and some days it may be more difficult than other days to get practice in.  I don’t care if my students only can fit 5 minutes of practice in on the busy days — but practice must be consistent in order for progress to be made and piano lessons to be enjoyable.  I believe that 5 minutes a day, every day for a week is far better than an hour on only one day out of the week.
• Students are more likely to use their practice time wisely. I don’t know about you, but I find that when I set myself a timed amount for practicing, I can’t wait until my 60 minutes is over.  When students sit down with a practice requirement in mind, that’s their focus: sitting at the piano until 20 minutes is over.  But when students sit down at the piano simply knowing it’s time to get some practice done to prepare for their next lesson, that’s exactly what their focus is on: preparing for the next lesson.  I would much rather have my students practice 10 minutes of quality practice time at the piano than 20 minutes of dilly-dallying.  This is why my incentive program is not based upon the amount of time that my students practice, but rather upon the progress they are making through their books.
• Students practice more. The daily practice requirement is actually quite freeing for most students.  It helps allow them to feel in control of their learning, rather than feeling like they are simply fulfilling a bunch of requirements set by their teacher.  When they sit down to practice, they are more likely to practice longer because they are more self-motivated.  The best kind of motivation is self-motivation.   Incentive programs are wonderful things for rewarding student progress, but earning trinkets, toys, or candy will not keep students taking lessons for long if that’s their only motivation.
• Students are more likely to continue taking lessons. Students are most likely to continue lessons when they are successfully making progress, no matter the rate.  As we all know, when a student doesn’t practice regularly, progress is nearly impossible.  Daily practice is the best way to ensure progress.  And when students are making progress the whole process is so much more enjoyable: students are motivated to learn, they are making progress, and the teacher is happy!

Now, of course, there are many successful teachers who have timed practice requirements, and I do not mean to minimize their teaching methods in any way.  We all have different teaching styles, and one particular method might not work for everyone.  I only mean to share this information in the hopes that it may be as helpful to some of you as it has been for me.  =)

That said, I have been using the daily practice requirement for a few years now, and have found it to be very successful for most of my students.  As with any practice requirement, of course, teachers must closely moniter student progress to see if the practice requirement is working well for them.  On occasion, I will encounter a student who is not making sufficient progress in his/her lessons, in which case I will inquire about the student’s practice habits with both the parent and student.  In some cases, if deemed necessary and helpful, I will then set a recommended weekly practice amount for the student.

But in general, having the daily practice requirement has been very freeing not only for my students, but also for me.  For one thing, I no longer have to nag my students about getting X amount of minutes of practice each week!  ;)  Who cares how many minutes they are practicing, as long as they are making progress that you deem satisfactory for their age/level/talent?  For another thing, I am noticing that they are much more motivated to play and learn then ever before and we are having a lot of fun in our lessons learning how to create music.  =)

To read more thoughts about practice requirements, read Laura Lowe’s great article on her blog here.

Photo credit: tibchris | CC 2.0

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Today I just thought I’d share a fun little tip I learned from one of my students this week!  Yes, you read that right: she taught me.  =)  She is a young beginner student, just learning how to read music on the staff.  She informed me that she came up with a way for remembering the note “D” (the one just above Middle C): D is the note that Dangles from the staff.  Clever!  I was so proud of her.  That is a little trick that I will definitely be sharing with my other beginner students.

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I am excited to announce the first ever free giveaway on the Color In My Piano blog!  *drumroll…*

THREE lucky winners will each be mailed a pair of laminated boards for learning and drawing music symbols.  (You may recall when I blogged about these boards here. I am keeping my set, of course, but I went back to buy more to share with you!)  These boards have a lot of potential for team games at group lessons or summer piano camps, or can simply be used during the private lesson.  They are two-sided — one side shows the symbols and their names, and the other side lists the names but leaves a blank staff for the student to draw the symbol.  Both sides are laminated to allow use with a dry-erase marker.

Unfortunately, because the prize is such a odd-shaped object and is expensive to ship, this giveaway is limited to readers from the continental U.S. only.

To enter:

• Leave a comment in the comments section of this post between May 20 and 27, sharing a favorite memory from your piano teaching this spring, a teaching tip, or a favorite quote.  It doesn’t have to be long; just a few sentences sharing something humorous or thought-provoking perhaps.  One comment per person, please.
• The giveaway ends May 27 at midnight.  The winning comments will be chosen via a random number generator.  The winners will be notified via email and their names will be announced on the blog.

So what are you waiting for?  Comment below for a chance to be a winner!

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>  Performing at the Piano Worksheet

Just in time for the spring recital season, this fill-in-the-blank worksheet is intended to help prepare students for an upcoming recital or other performance by discussing stage presence and performance etiquette.

Terms/concepts covered in the worksheet:

• Memorizing
• Applause
• Bowing
• Checking the bench
• and more.

This worksheet can either be sent home with students, completed one-on-one with the student during the lesson, or — my favorite — done as a group as a studio class or group lesson.   It would be fun to complete this worksheet as a group just before a practice run-through of a recital.

Your turn!  Share your ideas for preparing students for recitals in the comments!

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The set-up:

Using my digital recorder as an external microphone, I was able to capture video with high sound quality using iMovie software on my MacBook Pro.  Later on, I edited the videos using iMovie again and uploaded them to YouTube.  (If anyone would like more details about how exactly this is done, just ask! I can explain further.)

The result:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=N56ZHpnWfnw

The piece Jean is playing is an arrangement of Borodin’s Polovetsian Dance, from Dennis Alexander’s book, Especially For Adults.

After listening to the recording, I asked Jean what things she noticed -- which areas did she play well?  Which areas could be improved?  We discussed those areas and then I made a few suggestions of my own.  Jean decided to play through the piece once more, and was able to improve most of the areas we discussed.

Afterwards, Jean stated that she thought it was cool how recording allowed her to hear areas that need improvement herself.  This is the real benefit of taking the time to record students before the performance.  Usually, it is the teacher who tells the student about the areas to improve.  Doing a recording activity every now and then allows the student to be the teacher and use their ears to really listen to themselves.

Jean and I devoted the whole lesson to recording and listening to her pieces.  After working on her recital piece, we moved on to a couple other pieces -- one that she finished working on a few weeks ago, and one that she has recently started working on.  Part of her assignment for this week is to listen to the recordings again at home on YouTube, to remind her about the things we talked about.  :)

To read more about planning and preparing for student recitals, check out this post: Checklist for Planning Student Recitals.

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Many of us teachers are probably currently preparing our student for spring recitals, so today I thought it might be beneficial to discuss a way of preparing for performances: recording your students playing their pieces, and then listening to the playback together.

Benefits of Recording

• The student practices performing. Playing for a recording device can be almost as nerve-wracking as playing for an audience!  There’s no better way to practice handling nerves than to perform often.
• The student becomes the listener. When listening to the playback, the student is given the opportunity to hear what the piece sounds like from an audience member’s perspective.  The student is bound to aurally notice things that they had not realized they were doing (or NOT doing, as the case may be).  For example, the student may realize that the dynamic contrasts are not really coming through, or that the melody is not projecting over the accompaniment as well as s/he had thought.
• The student becomes the teacher.  After listening to the playback, the student can evaluate piece and identify the areas that went well or could be improved, and then begin discuss ways to improve the piece.

Aurally identifying areas to improve is half the battle.  Now the student can use their past knowledge to figure out HOW to improve those areas.  Having aurally identified some items that the student may wish to improve, the next logical step is to figure out HOW to improve these areas.  Through this process, the student learns self-critique – an important skill to develop in the developing musician.

Recording the Student

• When. We have some options:
  • 1) Hold a recording party – invite your students over to play a recital for each other; record the whole thing, play it back, and discuss together.  OR:
  • 2) Record the students playing their piece(s) during their individual private lessons – choose a week a few weeks before the performance, play it back instantly, and discuss.  Either way, the students’ pieces should be nearly performance-ready, if not already so.  This is when recording and listening is most beneficial.
• How. Your equipment does not have to be fancy; it just needs to be time efficient.  There’s not much point in using technology unless it aids the music making process!  We have a few options:
  • 1) Cassette tape recorders are the old fashioned but fairly reliable way to go if you aren’t feeling particularly tech-saavy.  The recording quality might not be the best, but it would serve the purpose satisfactorily.
  • 2) Most laptop computers nowadays contain internal microphones that can record any outside sounds (although they might not be the highest of quality).  Using a computer program such as Garage Band (comes pre-installed on all Macs) or Audacity (free software available via download), recording becomes quite easy.
  • 3) Most laptops also have built-in webcams, which means you can videotape the performance so the student can both listen to AND watch his/her performance!
  • 4) An external videocamera also is an option, if you have one.  It may be worth investing in one if you are interested in posting student performances on YouTube or on your studio website (with the parents’ permission, of course).
  • 5) External digital recording devices usually provide a much higher quality recording than the internal microphone of a laptop computer or the videocamera.  Make sure it is a recorder that is intended for music, rather than a digital voice recorder, which generally do NOT work very well for recording music.  An example of a digital recorder that works well for music is the Zoom H2 Handy Portable Stereo Recorder (click to view the listing on Amazon).  I bought one of these recorders a few years ago, and have been very happy with it.

Playback Time!

• Listen to the playback with the student. If you are playing back from your computer, plugging in external speakers will improve the quality of the playback.
• Follow along in the musical score as you listen.  Ask the student to mentally take note of any areas that surprised them, areas that were successful, areas that need improvement, etc.  If you took video, it may be best to only allow the student to listen for the initial playback without watching, so that they are focusing on the sound of their playing rather than the sight.
• Discuss.  After the playback, ask the student to discuss what they liked about their performance, and what could be improved.  Sample questions to ask:
  • “Which areas did you like the best?  What did you like about those areas?”
  • “Where you surprised by any areas? What did you hear?”
  • “Which areas do you think could be improved? What can you do in your practice at home to improve those areas?”
  • “What else did you notice?”

The student will benefit from this exercise the most if they are encouraged to think through these questions him-/her-self and evaluate their own playing, rather than being told what the teacher heard – they get enough of that at the average lesson.  This exercise is designed to encourage self-critique and motivation for improvement, as well as to develop listening skills in the student.

If you’ve ever tried recording your students’ playing, please share your experiences in the comments!  I’d love to hear about it.

Photo credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/simondeanmedia/ / CC BY 2.0

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Write In the Barlines #2

This worksheet is for use after using the Write In the Barlines #1 worksheet.  This time, students must draw the barlines through both staves of the grand staff instead of through just one staff.  This worksheet has 4 examples in four different time signatures, including 6/8.

This worksheet is designed for the late elementary / early intermediate level student, to reinforce the following concepts:

• measures
• barlines
• ties
• meters (2/4, 3/4, 4/4, and 6/8)

Click here to view and print it now!

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Over the last few weeks, I’ve been realizing that when I play forte on the piano — whether I’m playing my solo pieces or when I am accompanying a vocalist/instrumentalist — it sounds rather “poundy.”  Forte should not necessarily mean accented, however.  Forte can be a big, full sound without the accented front edge of the note.  But how on earth do I achieve this elusive sound?

This week I made a little breakthrough.  Rather than lifting and reattacking quite so much between chords, I need to keep my arm weight the same as I make the chord changes, more with my fingers than my hands (making sure the wrists remain loose and tension-free!).  It’s difficult to explain, but after a few weeks of pondering this issue in my daily practicing, I think I’m beginning to understand how to create this elusive sound.

You know, piano really is all about creating different sounds, colors, tone qualities – whatever you want to call them.  As my teacher used to say, “Music is not a democracy; not all notes are created equal.”  Now I know that this statement does not just apply to balance between melody and accompaniment, but also to various sections of a piece.  Not all forte notes are equal.  :)

Photo credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/jraffreynolds/ / CC BY-SA 2.0

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